A SOLDIER TO THE BACKBONEBELOVED OF HIS MEN

LIEUTENANT ALEC WHITWORTH BRYDON

THE QUEEN'S ROYAL WEST SURREY REGIMENT

31ST AUGUST 1915 AGE 31

BURIED: GREEN HILL CEMETERY, GALLIPOLI, TURKEY

There is splendid pride in this inscription - a soldier to the backbone - all the more so because Alec Brydon was not a regular soldier rather an electrical engineer, a partner in the firm of Rhodes, Brydon and Company of Stockport in Cheshire. On the outbreak of war, Brydon enlisted in the University and Public School Brigade. In September 1914 he was commissioned into the Cheshire Regiment before transferring to The Queen's in March 1915. Posted to Gallipoli at the end of July, he landed during the night of 7/8 August. The situation there was extremely serious and Brydon and his men were immediately involved in the fighting. On the evening of 31 August, whilst leading a machine-gun detachment into the front-line trenches, he was shot through the head by a sniper. A detailed obituary of Brydon appeared in the Institute of Electrical Engineers World War I Honour Roll.